By a 216-202 vote, the House defeated an amendment offered by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) that would have removed $72.3 million earmarked for sports sponsorships from a $608 billion defense bill.

The measure targeted the National Guard’s sponsorship of stock-car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and IndyCar driver J.R. Hildebrand, the Army’s sponsorship of the NHRA, the Marine Corps’ support of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and money spent on bass fishing.

McCollum said the National Guard program did not produce recruits. “It would be irresponsible and outrageous that Congress would go ahead and continue to borrow money from China to pay for one race-car driver’s team—$26 million for delivering zero recruits,” she said during Wednesday night’s 30-minute debate.

In May, she said the National Guard had spent more than $136 million over the past five years to sponsor Earnhardt Jr. According to Maj. Gen. Brian Creech, the National Guard’s contracts manager for recruitment, that effort produced 24,800 contacts from men and women interested in signing up for the National Guard. Of that number, only 20 contacts were fully qualified and none actually enlisted.

But retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., president of the U.S. National Guard Association, painted a different picture. “This [sponsorship] ban would provide no real savings and only serve to hinder Defense Department efforts to reach the most qualified potential recruits,” he said early this month. “Recruiting for our all-volunteer force isn’t what it used to be. Television advertising no longer carries the payoff it once did. Today, you have to know how smart, fit young people think, where they live and play, and go to them.

“Traditional recruiting approaches no longer worked, and our troop strength was shrinking, so we abandoned convention and focused our limited resources on an innovative marketing mix that linked recruiting messages to popular musicians and motorsports. It was a bold move, but it paid off. Recruiting steadily improved, both in terms of the quantity and quality of the applicants.”

Kingston said the NASCAR fans in his district support removing military sponsorships from NASCAR teams. “It’s not effective,” he said. “The demographic of NASCAR is that 69 percent of the people are over [age] 35. When they go and they’re pushing their brand or advertising at NASCAR, nearly 70 percent of the people aren’t eligible. That is not their target group.”

Given NASCAR’s political demographic, it wasn’t surprising that Republicans voted against the amendment (and in favor of sports sponsorships) by a 156-81 margin, while Democrats voted for the amendment (and against sponsorships) by a 121-60 margin. This vote was much closer than two votes taken last year, when the measure failed 281-148 and 260-167.

The Army recently said it would not return next year as the $8.4 million sponsor of Ryan Newman for 12 races at Stewart-Haas Racing. The Air Force has a relatively low-profile association with Aric Almirola at Richard Petty Motorsports. The Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have no presence in NASCAR.

In the Izod IndyCar Series, Panther Racing, which fields driver Hildebrand and receives sponsorship from the National Guard, released a statement on Wednesday night praising the vote:

“All of us at Panther Racing are very happy with the outcome of today’s vote in the House of Representatives on an amendment that would have banned the military from sponsoring professional sports. We are especially thankful that many in Congress were able to recognize the enormous tangible return professional sports provides to the recruitment, retention and overall marketing efforts of our Nation’s military.

“The magnitude of the platform provided by professional sports partnerships, and the positive message about our nation’s military that is conveyed through sporting events like the Indianapolis 500 and many others, is astronomical. In Panther Racing’s history nothing has been a larger point of pride than the responsibility of representing the National Guard, its soldiers and their families. We look forward to the opportunity to continue to spread their message across the country.”